SPORT
Sunday, September 23, 2012 - North Shore News - A31
THREE TO SEE THIS WEEK HOCKEY PIJHL NORTH DELTA vs NORTH VAN WOLF PACK Sept. 26, 7:30 p.m., Harry Jerome Arena FOOTBALL Senior AA JOHN BARSBY @ WINDSOR Sept. 28, 2 p.m. SOCCER Pacwest VIU @ CAPILANO Sept. 30, women noon, men 2 p.m.
YOUR NORTH SHORE GUIDE to THE GAMES PEOPLE PLAY
Tough road for West Van
Highlanders the lone North Shore team left in AAA league Andy Prest aprest@nsnews.com
AS the high school football landscape continues to change on the North Shore, a single, somewhat unlikely team is left alone in the province’s top league. Two years ago the West Vancouver Highlanders folded midway through the season due to a lack of numbers. Last year they returned with a respectable showing — missing a playoff spot on the final play of the season — and now, following Carson Graham’s move to the AA ranks, they are the sole North Shore team left at the AAA level. Head coach Shawn Anderson, who has helped rebuild the program after taking over the job just weeks before the start of the fateful folding season, said he’s more interested in the commitment his players have shown than the number of letters in front of the name of their league. “(With) what we went through two years ago, to be honest, I’m glad we still have a program, let alone whether we play in AAA or AA,” he said. “We were in a really NEWS photo Paul McGrath tough situation and I think it’s a testament to our players’ WEST Vancouver running back Marcus Schwandner fights off a Seaquam tackler resilience and all the coaches during an early-season exhibition win. Regular season points will be on the line staying with it and moving in next Friday when the Highlanders host W.J. Mouat in AAA play. the right direction.” They’re off to a good start. The Highlanders opened the While the team is still smaller — in both player size and number — than most of the other teams in the AAA league, season with a pair of closely fought wins over talented AA teams Anderson said they have a committed, talented core of players Seaquam and Ballenas. In both games West Van fell behind early but rallied late to that should make them competitive in most games. “The health of the program is good, we have some very collect last-minute victories. Anderson was both concerned and good players, but AAA football is tough,” he said. “We play encouraged by that trend. “In those games we didn’t do what we needed to do to very, very tough teams that have very good coaches and established programs while we’re still in the process of trying to build that.” See Highlanders page 32
National teams make field hockey Jr. World Cup Andy Prest aprest@nsnews.com
THE Canadian men’s and women’s junior field hockey teams — powered by a lot of North Shore talent — both qualified for the 2013 Junior World Cup by advancing to the championship finals of the Pan American Junior Championships being held this week in Guadalajara, Mexico. Semifinal games played Thursday were pressure-packed for both sides — a win would guarantee a World Cup berth while a loss would mean more must-win games. The women took the field first against Chile and, with a vocal Canadian cheering section in the stands, battled to a 3-1 win. North Vancouver’s Holly Stewart scored the game’s first goal in the first half but Chile replied quickly to make it 1-1 at the half. Jessica Buttinger of Waterloo, Ont. put the Canadians ahead again two minutes into the second half and Vancouver’s Caashia Karringten sealed the deal with a goal off of a penalty corner in the 57th minute. In a pool with Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico and Brazil, the Canadians finished in second place behind Argentina with a record of two wins, one tie and one loss to put them into the semifinals. Chile, meanwhile, entered the semifinals with a perfect 5-0 pool play record that included a 2-1 win over the United States. FollowingCanada’ssemifinal winArgentinatoppedtheUnited States 6-0 to earn their way into the final — played Saturday after North Shore News deadline — See Stewart page 32